LIFE, THE UNIVERSE AND DIGITAL SOCIETY
While I was walking to the gym this morning, I ran across a group of rather upset birds, flying around and squawking at each other. It made me chuckle a bit because in my head, I was translating their conversation as, “No way–this is MY branch! You go find your own tree!” and I was thinking, “how very human.” It actually got me thinking that, for the most part, life tends to work together in rapport, “finding their place” in a larger system that benefits both themselves and the system. But it only takes one troublemaker to disrupt that harmony, in this case, one bird that wanted to take over another birds place in the tree.
Some young folks at a nearby bus stop saw me laughing and were quite puzzled by that act, as I did not have wires hanging out of my ears, listening to some stand-up comic on an iPhone. One of them unplugged one of their ears and asked me what was so funny. I just asked, “did you hear the birds?” The only reply I got was “what birds?” They even tried to listen, but could not hear the continuing din from above. He asked his girlfriend, yanking a wire out of her ear, do you hear any birds? A moment’s pause, and “no.” To me, the birds were making quite the racket.
